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Chemical Senses 23: 351-357,
© 1998 Oxford University Press

Olfactory Sensitivity in Tsetse Flies: a Daily Rhythm

Wynand M. Van der Goes van Naters, Cornelis J. Den Otter and Frans W. Maes

Department of Animal Physiology, University of Groningen PO Box 14, 9750 AA Haren (Gn), The Netherlands

Correspondence to be sent to: W.M. van der Goes van Naters, Department of Animal Physiology, University of Groningen, PO Box 14, 9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands


  Abstract

The diurnal tsetse Glossina morsitans morsitans bites especially in early morning and late afternoon; around midday feeding is at a low. In laboratory apparatus that measures the amount of locomotion under constant conditions over the photophase, the flies display a similar patterning of activity levels. The profile of daily rhythms for G. morsitans reported in the literature includes a number of motor and sensory motor systems that fluctuate cophasically. Lacking is a study on the patterning of the senses' response levels. In this paper we present the first instance of a daily modulation in the sense of smell. We stimulated the antennae with concentration series of host-derived odours and measured the spiking rate of cells at different times during the photophase. The concentration-response curves suggest that the sensitivity of antennal olfactory cells flows in parallel with the other daily rhythms. This was also reflected in electroantennograms (EAGs). The electroantennography was extended to G. fuscipes fuscipes, whose level of spontaneous locomotor activity—instead of following a U-shaped pattern—rises gradually over the photophase. Again, the EAGs appeared to parallel the species' locomotor activity. What we believe happens is that the organism tones down the sensitivity of its odour receptors during periods of anticipated inactivity for reasons of economy.

Accepted 9 February 1998


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